s of
the old Venetian people far more than a place of worship. It was at once
a type of the Redeemed Church of God, and a scroll for the written word
of God. It was to be to them, both an image of the Bride, all glorious
within, her clothing of wrought gold; and the actual Table of the Law
and the Testimony, written within and without. And whether honored as
the Church or as the Bible, was it not fitting that neither the gold nor
the crystal should be spared in the adornment of it; that, as the symbol
of the Bride, the building of the wall thereof should be of jasper,[40]
and the foundations of it garnished with all manner of precious stones;
and that, as the channel of the World, that triumphant utterance of the
Psalmist should be true of it,--"I have rejoiced in the way of thy
testimonies, as much as in all riches?" And shall we not look with
changed temper down the long perspective of St. Mark's Place towards the
sevenfold gates and glowing domes of its temple, when we know with what
solemn purpose the shafts of it were lifted above the pavement of the
populous square? Men met there from all countries of the earth, for
traffic or for pleasure; but, above the crowd swaying for ever to and
fro in the restlessness of avarice or thirst of delight, was seen
perpetually the glory of the temple, attesting to them, whether they
would hear or whether they would forbear, that there was one treasure
which the merchantmen might buy without a price, and one delight better
than all others, in the word and the statutes of God. Not in the
wantonness of wealth, not in vain ministry to the desire of the eyes or
the pride of life, were those marbles hewn into transparent strength,
and those arches arrayed in the colors of the iris. There is a message
written in the dyes of them, that once was written in blood; and a sound
in the echoes of their vaults, that one day shall fill the vault of
heaven,--"He shall return, to do judgment and justice." The strength of
Venice was given her, so long as she remembered this: her destruction
found her when she had forgotten this; and it found her irrevocably,
because she forgot it without excuse. Never had city a more glorious
Bible. Among the nations of the North, a rude and shadowy sculpture
filled their temples with confused and hardly legible imagery; but, for
her, the skill and the treasures of the East had gilded every letter,
and illumined every page, till the Book-Temple shone from afar off li